Wearing a pink “Daddy To Be” ribbon and a perma-grin that matched his chuckle, Nick Arbuckle proved himself to be a team player right off the bat during his first news conference as the Redblacks starting quarterback on Friday.

“My wife has the belly to indicate she’s going to be a mom,” said the 26-year old Californian. “So I felt I needed something, too.”

Yes, the month of May will see two births for the Arbuckle family, with Nick and his wife Zakiyya welcoming their first-born around the same time he arrives at training camp, set to embark on a career as a No. 1 QB at the pro level.

Arbuckle wanted Ottawa for both beginnings. He says he loves the city and he’s been yearning for the opportunity. So much so, that while he recently had a workout for the New York Giants, he might have declined had they offered him a job.

Nick Arbuckle was officially introduced as the newest Ottawa Redblacks quarterback during a press conference at TD Place Stadium on Friday February 7, 2020.Errol McGihon /
Postmedia

“Just to clarify, it’s not like I definitely would have said no to them, it’s something we were leaning towards, being here in Ottawa, being here in Canada,” he said. “What really stems from this is where we really wanted our family to begin.

“When we got pregnant, and we started seeing the future of our family, we didn’t know there was a NFL opportunity at that time, so everything we saw for ourselves was in this country. And everything about being in Canada has been incredible for us.

“The opportunity to be a starter that the CFL would give me for the first time since college football … just because it was my dream to play in the NFL since I was a kid, it’s still a dream that I have, but it definitely was the right time and the right fit for us to be here in Canada. There’s no place that I would rather do it than Ottawa.”

The thing is, the Redblacks needed him more than he needed them — or at least the him they think he can be. They are coming off a 3-15 season that is one of, if not the worst ever produced by an Ottawa team.

The quarterback position was high on their list of sore spots. GM Marcel Desjardins gambled that Dominique Davis or Jonathan Jennings could emerge as a bona fide starter, and it’s a bet he lost.

Desperate to find an answer, Desjardins traded the first overall pick in the Canadian College draft, along with a third round selection, to the Stampeders for the sixth overall choice and the right to get an early start on negotiations with Arbuckle, who was set to become a free agent the next week.

Seems like a steep price for a guy who was decent (not lights out) when Bo Levi was injured last season — especially when it looked like there were no other starting options in the league, other than with the Argos, who signed the more proven Matt Nichols this week.

“There might have been one or two, at the time we made the trade,” said Desjardins. “For us, look, (it was) giving up a third round pick. Flipping first round picks is not something that we feel is going to impact us negatively. We’ve drafted pretty well in the past, in the later part of the first round.

“No, there’s not necessarily (a consensus choice to go first overall). The combine still has to occur, there’s still a lot of steps to take place for anybody to come up with that opinion. And usually the opinion is not our opinion anyway.”

“So we were more than comfortable, for that third round pick. Whether it’s some of our fifth year U Sport players coming back, or somebody else we’ll find through free agency, or whatever it is. We feel confident we’ll find a Canadian to fill that void.”

Desjardins didn’t need to make his best sales pitch to go along with the two-year deal that will make Arbuckle around a million bucks if he hits incentives.

“We had confidence in what we had here, in terms of the people, in terms of the facility, in terms of the city,” said Desjardins. “Nick met with a couple of our owners, and that’s not something a lot of players get the opportunity to do.

“He spoke about how having been here as a visiting player, it was a place he always felt comfortable. So look, at the end of the day, from his perspective, I’m sure it was a function of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, but also allowing his wife to kind of have the same impression of what Ottawa has to offer as he had, and then it was just a function of coming to an agreement number-wise.”

Arbuckle did have the best completion percentage (73.1) of any quarterback to play in at least nine games, but the sample size is small. His career numbers include 12 TD passes and five interceptions, while eight QBs threw for more yardage last season than he has in two years.

So, the signing is still a gamble.

“Yeah sure it is,” said Desjardins, “but I know what coach (Paul) LaPolice and his offence is all about, and he has proven that, really regardless of what quarterback has played for him, certainly in the last number of years, they’ve still been able to function and win games.

“We certainly anticipate we’ll be able to do that as well.

Meanwhile, Arbuckle does make a good first impression. At 6-foot-1, 213-pounds he is similar in stature to the player he idolized as a kid — Drew Brees. And for a guy who hasn’t had to do much talking to the media since he was a Georgia State, he sure looked comfortable sitting by himself, fielding questions at the front of the TD Place meeting room.

As far as his leadership, Arbuckle is not the “rah-rah” type.

“Believe it or not, I don’t really like talking in front of people,” he said. “Definitely more of a lead by example (guy).

“I would never ask somebody to do something that I’m not willing to do and already doing myself. So I like to make sure I set the tone with what I’m doing and show people the work that needs to be put in. Then just creating good close relationships, where they’re not just my teammates but they’re my friends, they’re my brothers.

“I never shy away from telling people that I love them, that I care about them, and making sure that whatever we’re doing on the field, making sure we have great relationships off the field as well.” That said, Arbuckle is now the man, the one player who, right or wrong, will be looked at to turn the franchise around.

If he’s still grinning through the summer, that’s a good sign.

“I don’t feel pressure, per se,” he said. “I just feel a lot of confidence, in what I’m capable of doing myself, what I’m able to do on the field, and what I can kind of bring to a team. That confidence is just from the work that I’ve put in. That’s kind of what I’ve always tried to build myself on: knowing that nobody can outwork me and nobody is more prepared for the moment than I am.

“When it comes to every play that I’m on the field, nobody is more prepared for that play, that situation than I am.

“I’m really just excited to bring whatever I can to the team, to help us win games.”

******************

Defence will be the focus for the Redblacks when free agency opens Tuesday at noon.

GM Marcel Desjardins reduced his need for offensive help when he signed Paul LaPolice to be his head coach.

“LaPo’s offence is not predicated on high priced receivers,” said Desjardins. “So we re-signed R.J. Harris, and we have a couple of guys coming back … obviously Brad (Sinopoli) is our highest priced offensive player, outside of quarterback.

“We’re in this window right now where we can talk to agents and players ahead of time, so it’s not trending, I guess is the best way to put it, that we would sign too much on offence. It’s probably more defence and special teams.”’

Even at that, Desjardins says the Redblacks will not be going on a wild shopping spree. But they have targeted certain individuals.

“With the way the cap works, we don’t have a ton of wiggle room to do stuff,” he said. “If we get who we want, we’ll probably get two, maybe three guys, max. And if we don’t get who we want, maybe that gives a bit more money to do a little bit more.

“At the end of the day, it’s not like we’re going to sign six, seven, eight guys and lets go. It just doesn’t work that way. We’ve re-signed a lot of our own guys, Had we not, then we obviously would have had more flexibility.”

The Redblacks currently have 15 players headed for free agency, including last year’s leading receiver, Dominque Rhymes.

“That’s a discussion LaPo and I have had, and will continue to have,” Desjardins said of Rhymes. “We’ll have it with him, once we kind of say this is what we’re doing.”

-Don Brennan

******************

Nick Arbuckle has an eye on the path he wants to follow through and after his playing career.

It’s the one cut by Henry Burris, who won a Grey Cup for the Redblacks before joining TSN as a panelist.

After signing on to become Ottawa’s new starting QB, Arbuckle sent Burris a note thanking him for his support. In a story written mid-January by Postmedia’s Tim Baines, Burris said Arbuckle was “100 per cent Ottawa’s best option” to take over the job.

“When you want somebody to lead your team for a number of years, you want health, you want youth and you want upside,” said Burris. “He delivers on all three of those.” Arbuckle wanted to tell Burris those words meant a lot to him.

“I asked him what it’s like being here, and if he had any advice for me and my wife, because we’re starting a family here like he has his,” said Arbuckle. “He just really kind of made himself open to us, he responded with a really nice message.”

Arbuckle says he admires the work Burris now does in the media.

“The idea of working on that side of the field is something I would heavily consider after I’m done playing football,” said Arbuckle. “He’s a person that I really look up to, and I’m trying to kind of follow in his footsteps.”

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.